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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23397130">The only real thing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaMega/pseuds/PandaMega'>PandaMega</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Feels, First Kiss, Hale Family Feels, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mutual Pining, The Hale Family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:41:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,394</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23397130</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaMega/pseuds/PandaMega</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Derek!” Stiles called, watching as the man in question turned towards him, taking Stiles’s breath away with the brightness of his smile. Derek was beaming at him and Stiles couldn’t speak, heart thudding in his chest and flooding with warmth unbidden. He swallowed, dreading what he was about to do, what he had to do.</p><p>Or</p><p>Stiles saves Derek from himself</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>305</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The only real thing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bright, warm sun flooded over Stiles’s skin. The breeze was filled with birdsong and the sweet fragrance of wildflowers, pine trees, and earth. It was dizzying, leaving his mind hazy. He would have forgotten why he was here were it not standing before him, huge and impossible to miss. The Hale house in all its glory, more of a mansion than anything, rose from the earth like a monument. It was alive. Each wall adorned with living filigree of climbing vines blooming with morning glories, framing proud windows and doors alight with life. Stiles’s heart skipped as he approached, ducking under an arched trellis hanging heavy with fragrant wisteria and honeysuckle. Everywhere was bright with color and life and he was filled with a heavy understanding of why he was brought here of all places. </p><p>The door was a broad, elegant dark stained oak. He took a deep breath before reaching for the bronze knocker. It wasn’t a moment before the door swung open. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but the sight of Laura Hale took his breath away. She was smiling, skin flushed pink with life, glowing. So different from the cool pallor of when he’d last seen her, lifeless. When she pulled him into an embrace he could only stand stiffly, shocked, and remained frozen as she pulled him inside, speaking excitedly.</p><p>“That was fast! Come on, Mom’s waiting in the kitchen!”</p><p>He braced himself to meet Talia hale as he was ushered past the grand foyer. Talia Hale was as tall, beautiful, and regal as he had expected. What he hadn’t expected was how she smiled at him with warmth and affection. Before she could speak Stiles was nearly bowled over by a shrieking child, wolfed out and barreling through on all fours, followed by a young boy growling “I’m gonna eat you!” and baring elongated teeth.</p><p>Talia shook her head fondly as a familiar voice carried after the kids.</p><p>“No running in the house! Take it outside!”</p><p>Stiles snapped his head towards the voice, sighing in relief.</p><p>“Derek!” Stiles called, watching as the man in question turned towards him, taking Stiles’s breath away with the brightness of his smile. Derek was beaming at him and Stiles couldn’t speak, heart thudding in his chest and flooding with warmth unbidden. He swallowed, dreading what he was about to do, what he had to do.</p><p>Before he could say another word Derek had come up to him, kissing him on the cheek and passing a small, warm bundle that Stiles took reflexively. Stiles, shocked, blinked at the smiling, beautiful man, then blinked down to see that he was holding a baby, a tiny little thing wrapped in a soft green blanket sleeping peacefully. The lump in his throat grew and he felt tears stinging at the back of his eyes. He couldn’t do this, but he had to.</p><p>“Stiles?” Derek’s voice was soft, “Is something wrong?” He reached a gentle hand to Stiles’s shoulder making him flinch.</p><p>“Derek,” Stiles swallowed, voice raw and quiet, unable to meet Derek’s eyes but unable to look at the beautiful baby. “We have to go.”</p><p>“Where? Weren’t you just at the store? Did something happen?”</p><p>“Derek this isn’t real.”</p><p>Derek’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he tilted his head. Stiles finally met his eyes.</p><p>“This isn’t real, we have to get out of here.”</p><p>“Stiles, what are you talking about?” Derek’s lips were still quirked in an easy smile and Stiles felt his heart breaking.</p><p>“Derek you got whammied by a witch and now you’re stuck in a dream. This is all in your head.”</p><p>The smile dropped from Derek’s face. “Stiles, that isn’t funny.” Derek crossed his arms and Stiles noticed something glinting from his left hand, a wedding ring. Stiles winced.</p><p>“Derek I wouldn’t joke about something like this. Just think about it. Your whole family is here, you’re married, you have a baby, isn’t it all a little too good to be true?” The only thing keeping him from flailing was the baby in his arms. The baby that wasn’t real.</p><p>Derek looked pained. “Why are you doing this?”</p><p>“I’m not trying to hurt you, I’m trying to save you man! I just came here from a fucking battlefield! You pushed me out of the way and got magicked into a coma. I had to do some really messy blood magic to get into your head and try to bring you back. I’m sorry. I really am. I know it’s perfect here but you can’t stay, Derek, please, you have to come back!”</p><p>Derek shook his head and took a step back, “This is real. This is my reality. You must be the one under a spell. We can call deaton. You probably ran into a witch at the store-”</p><p>“I was never at the store! Derek!” Stiles looked around desperately, he could see the fear and doubt in Derek’s eyes and he clung to that, gentling his voice. “Derek, come on. Be honest with me, you already know it don’t you.”</p><p>“No.” Derek shook his head adamantly</p><p>“You’ve probably known all along somewhere in the back of your mind that this wasn’t real.”</p><p>“<em> No. </em>”</p><p>“Because every time they turn the corner or walk away there’s a small, terrified voice in your head telling you they’re gone for good. Because whenever you look at them there’s this little tug at your heart telling you how badly you miss them even though they’re right there. Derek I know, I have dreams like this all the time and they hurt so good but they’re just dreams Derek”</p><p>“No.” Derek’s voice is weaker now, his eyes shining with unshed tears.</p><p>“I know Derek because even when I’m dreaming that everything is perfect I still feel broken!”</p><p>Derek choked on his words.</p><p>“I’m sorry Derek, I’m really, truly, sorry but you know it too! You have this perfect life, yet still, every time you look at them you still feel <em> guilty </em>!”</p><p>Derek winced.</p><p>“Please, you have to come back with me Derek, this isn’t real. You don’t have a child, you don’t have a wife, but if you wake up now and come back with me there’s still time to make it happen! You could meet a nice woman, get married, have kids,” Stiles was barely able to form the words through the tightness in his throat, he knew his cheeks were wet with tears, this was all far too close to home for him, but he had to do this.</p><p>“Please, Derek, please don’t give up, plea-”</p><p>“Stiles, sweetie, did you get the butter?” </p><p>Stiles’ throat closed up all the way because he knew that voice. Talia Hale he could handle. Laura Hale, even Derek’s newborn baby he could handle. But this was too much. Stiles looked over, face wet with fresh tears as he finally made his voice work.</p><p>“Mom?”</p><p>“Oh sweetheart,” Claudia Stillinski walked up to Stiles and brushed his tears away, “Are you two arguing? For newlyweds you sure act like an old married couple! Putting your dad and me to shame. Don’t worry love, it will all work out.” She leaned in and kissed Stiles forehead, having to stand on her toes to reach him. The last time he’d seen her he was still small. His heart ached. His mother’s words rushed through his head as she walked away to the kitchen. Glancing down at the baby in his trembling arms he took in her features, raven hair and pale skin, with a little beauty mark on her left cheek and on her chin. The baby blinked her eyes open sleepily and they were a familiar amber. They were his mother’s eyes. They were the same eyes as he saw in the mirror. A tear fell on her cheek and he gently brushed it away and saw the ring on his finger, a wedding ring, the same as Derek’s. He didn’t think he could take any more revelations, his heart was aching.</p><p>Forcing himself to look away from the child, Stiles looked up to see Derek, eyes shut and face contorted in anguish.</p><p>“Derek,”</p><p>“Don’t.”</p><p>“Derek,”</p><p>“I wish you hadn’t come.” </p><p>It was spoken so quietly but Stiles could still hear it, pain and guilt coursing through him. </p><p>Derek quietly lifted the baby from Stiles’s arms, cradling it ever so gently, and gazed at her with the most hopeless expression before turning and walking towards a bedroom. He set her down in a little red crib beside a large, messy bed, then ushered stiles out of the room without looking at him.</p><p>Stiles followed silently through the house until Derek slid open a door to the back porch. They were silent for a long time, Derek gazing out at the peaceful trees, the sun high in the blue sky. Finally he sighed, closing his eyes to the serene landscape.</p><p>“Of course I knew it was too good to be true.”</p><p>Stiles held his words, anxiously spinning the ring on his finger as he waited for Derek to continue.</p><p>“Every morning. I would wake up next to you, next to our daughter,” His voice cracked, “and I couldn’t help thinking I didn’t deserve this.”</p><p>Stiles’s breath caught and he barely stopped himself from reaching out.</p><p>“It’s everything I ever wanted. Everyone I love close to me and safe.”</p><p>There was another long pause before he spoke again.</p><p>“Stiles.” Derek finally met his eyes, red rimmed from holding back tears. “If this is a dream, please just leave me here.”</p><p>Stiles’s face crumpled and Derek looked away.</p><p>“Please.”</p><p>“If I leave you here you’ll die!” </p><p>Derek just looked at him and smiled weakly. </p><p>Stiles made a punched out wounded noise. “No.”</p><p>Derek turned to head back into the house.</p><p>“Derek, no!” Stiles reached out to grab for Derek’s arm, feeling desperate suddenly, knowing that if Derek walked back into the house he’d be gone for good.</p><p>“Derek, please don’t leave me,” he blurted out, feeling strung out and helpless.</p><p>Derek stiffened and Stiles latched on, grabbed Derek’s arm, mind whirring because this was Derek’s fantasy, and in Derek’s fantasy they were married. Heart racing, he began to speak, not knowing the right words to stay put hoping something would stick.</p><p>“Please Derek, we need you, I need you. You can’t send me back out there alone. I know you want all of this, are you kidding me, I want all of this, it’s perfect, but it’s not real, and you’ll be abandoning everyone else out there for a fantasy. Please don’t do that to us, to the pack, to me!”</p><p>“Stiles stop.” </p><p>“Please! You still have a life out there!”</p><p>Derek scoffed but Stiles barreled on.</p><p>“I know we can’t make all of it come true, there are things, people we’ll never get back, but we can rebuild the house, the pack, we can try to make some of it real! Don’t give up on that Derek, don’t give up on-”</p><p>“On what?” Derek snapped, turning to face Stiles now, “On finding a <em> nice woman? </em>”</p><p>Stiles winced and Derek spun around. “No Derek, don’t give up on us!” Stiles grabbed with both hands, heart fluttering in a panic, and pulled until their lips crashed together, kissing Derek fervently, frantically.</p><p>Derek Tore himself away, pushing Stiles back at arms length, face twisted in pain, “How <em> dare </em>you use my feelings-”</p><p>“Derek!” Stiles shouted over him, pleading and hopeless as words spilled from his mouth. “If I have to leave you here to die then at least let me have a taste of what could have been.”</p><p>Derek stepped back, stunned, before the anger fell from his face. Stiles took the chance to step forward, grasp Derek’s face in both hands and kiss him again, softer, pouring years of unrequited love and desperation and need into his lips, praying Derek could taste it on his tongue, how badly he needed him. Derek melted into it, arms coming up to wrap around Stiles. It was wet, tears falling freely, the salty sting of them on his tongue.</p><p>“This,” Stiles muttered, breaking away just a breath,”Out of everything here, this, between us, this is the only thing that’s real.”</p><p>Derek had his eyes closed indecision marring his features.</p><p>“If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for me.”</p><p>Derek huffed out a breath. Stiles wasn’t playing fair.</p><p>“You love me right?”</p><p>“Don’t,” Derek’s voice was vulnerable</p><p>“You loved me enough to marry me in your perfect fantasy. You loved me enough to bring back my mom.” Stiles squeezed Derek’s arms, fingernails digging into skin, grounding him to the weight of his words.</p><p>“Derek if I could bring them all back I would, you know I would,” he whispered, “God, Derek, if I could die in here with you I almost would,”</p><p>Derek whimpered, squeezing back.</p><p>“Please don’t make me go back out there alone. Derek, don’t choose a fantasy over me.”</p><p>Derek looked at him, face wrought with guilt and misery. He wiped the tears from Stiles face and pressed their foreheads together, fingers sliding back into soft mousey hair and clinging, unsure.</p><p>“Just let me say goodbye,” Derek asked.</p><p>Stiles shook his head, hopeful he was getting through to Derek but still afraid. “They’re not real. If you go back in there… who knows if you’ll ever come out.”</p><p>“I will.”</p><p>“Derek, every second we stay here is killing both of us.”</p><p>Derek’s head snapped up and he searched Stiles eyes for a lie before gritting his teeth. “Blood magic.” </p><p>Stiles nodded and Derek cursed under his breath. “Stiles, what have you done.”</p><p>“I’d do anything for you.”</p><p>Derek shook his head, stepping away, guilt overtaking him again. Stiles clung to him, not letting himself be pushed away. “Come on Derek, we have to go, please.”</p><p>Derek, still uncertain, stood still, glancing furtively towards the door to the house.</p><p>“Fine. I’ll just stay here and die with you.”</p><p>“Stiles, no.”</p><p>“We can live out our fantasies here if we won’t get to have them in real life.”</p><p>Derek sighed, drawing a hand down his face. “You’re so stubborn.”</p><p>“You love it.” Stiles said hopefully, heart thudding in place.</p><p>Derek leaned forward, resting his head on Stiles’s shoulder. “I do.”</p><p>Relieved, Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek and sighed in relief. “Let’s get out of here, Sourwolf.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you all enjoyed. I'd love any comments, they keep me motivated to write more!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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